


Everything Has Changed

by Captain_MJB



Category: Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)
Genre: AU, F/F, Italy, train
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:20:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23718076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_MJB/pseuds/Captain_MJB
Summary: Dinah and Helena meet on a train in Italy. AU
Relationships: Helena Bertinelli/Dinah Lance
Comments: 5
Kudos: 57





	Everything Has Changed

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you guys think! Should I continue?

Helena quickly sat down across from a blonde woman typing away on a laptop. She would have rather sat on her own, not really doing well around other people, but this was one of the only table seats left and the train was quickly filling up. The train normally took two and a half hours to get from Naples to Rome and she didn’t want to stand up all that time since the train was rather full considering it was eleven at night. No matter how many times she had taken trains in mainland Italy it was so different from both Gotham and the Sicilian region she had spent most summers at as a child. 

Looking out the window Helena couldn’t see much since it was dark so she opted to get her sketchbook out of her satchel in the process, she couldn’t help but take a glance at the woman who was sitting across from her. She couldn’t see much since her face was covered by braided hair that fell down in front of her but she could make out the perturbed expression she was wearing.

She must have got on the train early, well earlier than Helena because she was running late, she looked so engrossed in whatever she was doing on her laptop. Feeling the train rumble to life underneath her Helena looked away and down at her sketchbook hoping that the women hadn’t noticed her staring, her hands shaking slightly at the thought. 

Helena loved drawing; she could get lost in it. It would be just her, the paper and the noises of her pencil. It was a way for her to forget her problems, it always had been. But now it was also a way for her to forget about being homesick. There was no option for her to bring her other love of the crossbow across the sea, there would have been too many questions asked at customs, especially since she had been flying from Gotham. Not the friendliest of cities. 

It wasn’t normal for her to be startled out of her head when she was drawing but she sure was when she heard the women across from her mutter, “Shit,” In a definitely not Italian accent and a laptop lid slam down.

Her head shot up as she stared at the women with wide eyes, “You’re American!” She breathed out in excitement, her words tumbling together slightly at the awkwardness she was used to feeling on a daily basis.

The women raised an eyebrow but had a small smile on her face, Helena must have looked odd to her, mouth hanging open slightly and she was sure she had pencil smudges on her face where she had rubbed a few times when she couldn’t get some details of her drawing to go the way she wanted them too.

“I am,” The woman smiled a dimpling grin and that’s when Helena finally took her in fully and wow she was beautiful. 

“I’m sorry,” Helena apologised but she couldn’t keep the excited smile off her face,” But most people who I talk to are Italian and as much as I love this country it was nice to hear another American voice for a change,” And a memorising voice at that.

“I understand; I know how that feels. I’m Dinah,” The blonde offered as she slipped her laptop into its case, “I’m sorry if I disturbed you it’s just I was writing an email to my friend, which she insists I do even though we talk on the phone every week and my laptop died and let’s just say I got a little annoyed,”

Helena almost forgot she was being spoken to when Dinah smiled, she was so taken by the goddess in front of her, but snapped out of it before it could become an embarrassing situation.

”Honestly, don’t worry about it, I’m really glad to be speaking to another American, “ Helena smiled. That wasn’t really true, Helena didn’t like speaking to people on a regular basis especially Italians since the dialect was different from the one she had grown up learning in Sicily but for some reason as soon as she heard Dinah speak in English, easily identifying the American accent, her mouth had opened to speak before she had even thought of what she was going to say. 

” Oh and I’m Helena, “She quickly added.

“Well Helena now you’ve got me talking you’re probably going to have a hard time getting me to stop,” Dinah teased.

Helena started to stutter, “O-oh well, I guess that’s o-okay, it’s always good to have someone to talk to and we look around the same age so it's not like it's going to be creepy or anything,” She trailed off eventually.

Luckily for her, Dinah took it in her stride, “So Helena,” She smiled, “What brings you to Italy?”

Helena swallowed nervously,” Oh. Well, I’m here as a part of a programme my university does, an exchange if you could call it that. I’m here to go to University for the semester,” 

Dinah’s eyes lit up as she leant forward, resting her chin on her knuckles as her eyes bored into Helena’s, “Wow. I couldn’t imagine doing that. It must have been scary, what do you do that brought you here?”

Helena smiled knowing that she could probably talk for hours about art and what she was doing here and what the country meant to her but she knew she had to reign it in since she didn’t have hours to talk about it and it would probably bore Dinah and well ramble so much that none of what she would say would make sense at all. 

“I’m an Art student,” She answered simply, waving her fingers in the air to show off her smudge marks. And that was it, Helena sat nervously running her mouth about how she had gone to Naples for the day to get some more inspiration for a project she was doing for class after remembering the landscape from when she had gone on holiday there as a child, the background it had of Mount Vesuvius .

“So I just kind of decided to hell with it, got my camera and sketchbook and headed to the train station this morning which for me is off because I’m not really one for spontaneity,” Helena smiled before freezing slightly, “Oh My God, I’m so sorry I think it was me that was talking your ear off,” She murmured sheepishly, rubbing behind her neck nervously.

Dinah had to admit that she hadn’t even noticed that the striking woman had been talking about her day for around ten minutes now, she had been mesmerised by the way the obviously younger girl’s eyes lit up as she talked about sketching some kids playing in a fountain and a skyline among other things. It was like the previous nerves she had been holding onto fell away as passion filled her deep eyes. 

“Don’t worry about it, I was enjoying listening to what you were saying, you obviously love what you do,” Dinah smiled, her nose wrinkling grin causing the other woman sitting opposite to swallow once more.

“I always get a bit excited when talking about my art, it also didn’t help that you’re the only person I’ve talked to in Italy for months that can actually understand my babbling, It’s hard to do in Italian you know, especially since it isn't a dialect that I speak fluently, that would be Sicilian” Helena chuckled trailing off with another nervous grin causing Dinah to laugh. Wasn’t she just precious? 

“So,” Helena cleared her throat, “Since you heard all about my escapades in Naples, what brings you to Italy?” She wondered. The thought had been running through her head the entire conversation with Dinah. “And in some very tight pants considering the heat,“ She couldn’t help but ramble on.

Dinah laughed once more. Who was this girl?

“I’m just taking a well needed break,”

Helena fiddled with the edge of her sketchbook, “Oh so you’re on vacation?”

The blonde nodded, tilting her head to observe the younger girl, “Yes. I’ve been here a month already, Rome is my last stop, I’m going to spend three weeks here and then head back home.,” She chuckled at the look on Helena’s face, “I know that it’s a long time to take a vacation for but… well who cares, I just quit my job because my boss was an asshole and nothing seemed to be going right for me so… I just left.”

Feeling her heart clenched at the sad look in Dinah's eyes, Helena wanted to reach forward and grasp at the woman's hand but knew she was too awkward and skittish to do so, but she could emphasize with what she was saying. 

“I know how that feels, the need to get away before it all gets too much, that's why I like sketching so much, it’s my escape,” Helena didn’t know why she was revealing all this to a random woman on a train in Italy at almost midnight but for some reason it just felt natural. Sketching and the art of the crossbow had always been her escape from the anger and loneliness she often felt swelling up in her.

Surprisingly, Dinah did exactly what Helana had been debating only minutes before, she lent forwards and placed her hand on top of the stormy eye’s strangers, their eyes connecting together as they sat there in silence for a few moments.

“You know, Helena. I think that's exactly what I need to do,” Dinah spoke, squeezing the brunette's hand before pulling away.

“W-what?” She stuttered in confusion.

“I need to find my own escape,”

* * *

Helena cleared her throat as they stepped off the train together at the Roma Termini station, it was dark considering it was around half one in the morning and wasn’t very busy but Dinah could still see Helena clearly as the woman struggled to adjust the strap of her camera bag whilst she juggled her sketchbook.

Stepping forward Dinah grabbed the strap out of her hands, their hands brushing as she adjusted it for her, looking up at Helena’s face when she was done, “There you go,” She breathed with a small smile before stepping back.

“It was nice meeting you Dinah,” Helena stated, “And not just because you’re an American,”

“It was nice meeting you too, you made a long train journey worth it,” Dinah answered sincerely.

Helena didn’t want to go back to her dorm room. She wanted to give Dinah her phone number, she wanted the blonde to give her hers but neither of them did. Not wanting to read the situation wrong, not wanting to overstep any boundaries. 

“I’ll see you around maybe,” Dinah questioned as she grabbed her bag she had placed on the floor before she walked away knowing that if she lingered any longer things were going to get awkward.

“Yeah, maybe,” Helena breathed to herself as she watched the woman walk away. If she was being honest the conversations, she had just had with someone she had only just met that day felt like some of the most genuine conversations she had ever had.

As she walked out of the station and towards the general direction of her dorm Helena made a vow to herself that if she ever somehow came across Dinah again, she wouldn’t hesitate to give the beautiful stranger her number.


End file.
